Cycist David Kurtz tells us how he used Precision Fuel & Hydration's PH 1500 electrolyte drinks to beat his issues with muscle cramp after 30 years of searching for a solution!
"}},"slug":"how-to-beat-muscle-cramp","blogTags":"Hydration","featuredPost":false,"author":{"name":"Dave Colley","slug":"dave-colley","facebookHandle":"https://www.facebook.com/davecolley1","twitterHandle":null,"instagramHandle":"https://www.instagram.com/dmcolley/","linkedInProfile":"https://uk.linkedin.com/in/davecolley","stravaProfile":"https://www.strava.com/athletes/5042481","bio":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"Dave earned a Masters Degree in history from the University of Cambridge before moving into the world of marketing. He was a successful Marketing Manager at Twoo and LoveThis before he joined the team at Precision Fuel & Hydration.\nDave is a keen hiker and counts the Three Peaks Challenge, Tongariro Alpine Crossing and Salcantay Trek in the Andes amongst his achievements.
"}},"title":"Marketing Director","headshot":{"file":{"url":"//images.ctfassets.net/428xzyjdw7rf/5zrifCX4n2HEZwajwsoROi/bd1caffd9bab34175e354681a7cac016/Dave.png"}}},"scientificallyReviewed":null,"image":{"resize":{"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/428xzyjdw7rf/7pg0qm7KjrV9TphT7dkhIh/93d42b0653a01f7aff95a86c2ac347d5/David_Kurtz_muscle.jpg?w=1200&h=630&q=70&fit=fill","width":1200,"height":630}},"socialMediaImage":null,"body":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"Every day we get feedback and reviews from athletes telling us that they've seen performance gains from personalising their hydration strategy using Precision…","html":"Every day we get feedback and reviews from athletes telling us that they've seen performance gains from personalising their hydration strategy using Precision Fuel & Hydration electrolytes.
\nWe share every single email and review in our company Slack chat as it's a great motivator when you're burning the midnight oil (or you want a legitimate excuse to procrastinate for 5 minutes here and there...)
\nEvery athlete story is interesting but occasionally we'll read one that really hammers home why we do what we do.David Kurtz from Charlottesville, Virginia shared his story with us and it summed up so many of the anecdotes we hear about athletes solving their problems with muscle cramp after years of searching for a solution in vain so well that we reached out and asked if we could share it with the rest of our team...
\nWell, for the last 30 years or so, I've had problems with muscle cramps and back spasms.
\nEvery few months, one muscle or another in my back would seize up. I'd be stranded on the couch for a day, stiff for another day, then back to normal as if it had never happened after a few days.
\nWhichever muscle had been used the most would be the one to go: neck, groin, lower back, middle back. It got to the point where my entire activity schedule was structured to try to keep it from happening to avoid \"overdoing it\".
\nProbably the worst experience was a lower back spasm while mogul skiing!
\nI'd had spasms during the previous two seasons before supplementing with PH 1500. Last season, when using PH 1500, there were no spasms...
\nI tried lots of things over the years, such as making sure to get enough potassium and other vitamins, stretching, physical therapy, chiropractors, optimum fitness scheduling to improve my fitness without overdoing it, drinking lots of water, and asking different doctors what to do, but the frequency of spasms just kept increasing.
\nAfter reading some of the information from Precision Fuel & Hydration, I started adding up the amount of sodium I was taking in compared to the amount I was losing through sweat - and I realised that the equation was not adding up.
\nIn one day, I might eat ~1,000 mg of sodium but I would lose thousands of milligrams whilst playing volleyball for many hours in 90°F weather.
\nAlso, this 'salt equation' was made worse because I was forcing myself to drink extra plain water throughout the day because I was worried that my cramping was caused by dehydration!
\nAs an experiment starting about 1.5 years ago, I kept everything else the same, but began replacing more of the sodium I was losing through sweat (mostly with PH 1500) and I stopped forcing myself to drink extra water, drinking only when thirsty and also using my urine color to gauge my hydration status.
\nI haven't had a spasm since beginning this experiment 18 months ago, which is the longest period of time in at least a decade (maybe even three decades) that I can say that and I've been able to increase my physical activity.
\nI realize that, for the rest of the world, this story is merely anecdotal, but for me, given my struggles over the years, the various attempts I've made to improve things and my individual circumstances, it's conclusive that a lack of salt was causing me big problems, and Precision Fuel & Hydration has improved my life tremendously.
\nMaybe I have some undiagnosed, underlying disease that gives me different challenges than other people, but there's no doubt that my situation was at least aggravated by decades of not getting enough sodium in when I was sweating.
\nI've been able to play volleyball at the top level in my town at the age of 48!
\nWant to see if personalizing your hydration strategy could help with your cramps? Take our free online Sweat Test or try preloading with PH 1500 to start hydrated
","timeToRead":4,"headings":[{"depth":3,"value":"David, first off, glad to hear that we have been able to help you cure your cramping issues! We love hearing from athletes that we've helped. Tell us about your problems with muscle cramp?"},{"depth":3,"value":"That sucks! What was your worst cramping experience?"},{"depth":3,"value":"Nasty! So, what other things did you try to cure your cramps before trying Precision Fuel & Hydration?"},{"depth":3,"value":"That sounds familiar! And what have you been doing differently since using PH 1500, is that the only thing you changed to prevent the issues you were experiencing?"},{"depth":3,"value":"That's awesome, another win in the war on cramp! What has been your greatest athletic achievement since using PH 1500?"},{"depth":3,"value":"Epic, thanks for sharing your story David and here's hoping you continue to keep the cramps at bay! 🤞"}]}},"reviewer":null}},"pageContext":{"slug":"how-to-beat-muscle-cramp","noIndex":false}},"staticQueryHashes":["1095528202","1204021508","142052947","1485196607","1527722960","2488678560","266977044","2746441856","2932112381","3035445994","3266792109","3683832922","3998591504","4055654595","4087350428","473255425","608825219","657160472"]}